Love of Science ‘Explodes’ during Starbase Camp

Students develop a love of science during Starbase camp week.

It’s a week filled with launching eggs, exploding elephant toothpaste, and other fun science activities that ends with a trip to Rapid City’s Journey Museum. To say the least, the Starbase camp keeps St. Joseph’s Indian School fifth graders busy, busy, busy!

“The students love it. They really like all of the hands-on activities. The Starbase teachers do a great job of grabbing the students’ interest and then explaining the science behind the activities,” says Brock, fifth grade teacher at St. Joseph’s.

Students give the robotics lesson a “thumbs up.”

Starbase and St. Joseph’s Indian School have partnered for nearly 20 years. Through this on-going partnership, Starbase works together with St. Joseph’s teachers to give Native American students hands-on experiences through interactive experiments, which are in line with South Dakota Dept. of Education standards of learning.

First on the list of activities is to design a vehicle that can crash and keep Eggbert safe. Wait, who’s Eggbert? Well, as the name suggests, it’s a raw egg, and students have a limited budget of resources to create a safe vehicle. Students track how their vehicle performs in a test against a collision between Eggbert’s vehicle and a block of wood.

SMASH! Eggbert didn’t quite make it during this round against a wooden block.

“There seems to be a limited amount of survivors,” jokes Brock. However, several students keep Eggbert safe from becoming “scrambled.”

Elephant toothpaste explodes in a fun experiment that is always a class favorite.

A few days later comes a class favorite: elephant toothpaste. Named for the reaction that occurs inside of a bottle – that soon becomes an exploding, foamy fountain – it’s a fun reaction students make by mixing yeast, dish soap and hydrogen peroxide.

“Elephant toothpaste was my favorite of all of the activities,” said Treya, who took part in Starbase as a fifth grader.

More experiments and activities take place throughout the week leading up to the last day of camp when students head west 220 miles to Rapid City, S.D., to The Journey Museum. Upon arrival, students watch a film about the history of Native Americans and the Black Hills and go on a virtual tour of the solar system. They explore the museum that includes digging for dinosaur bones, dressing-up in primitive clothing and lab coats, and sitting inside of a tipi.

It’s a wonderful way to begin the school year and clear-out summer brain cobwebs.

Programs like this are possible thanks to supportive friends like you!

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Author: St. Joseph's Indian School

At St. Joseph's Indian School, our privately-funded programs for Lakota (Sioux) children in need have evolved over 90 years of family partnership, experience and education. Because of generous friends who share tax-deductible donations, Native American youth receive a safe, stable home life; individual counseling and guidance; carefully planned curriculum based on Lakota culture and individual student needs and tools to help build confidence, boost self-esteem and improve cultural awareness. All of this helps children to live a bright, productive, possibility-filled future.
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